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James Franco has allegedly asked a 17-year-old girl to meet him in a hotel room.

A private conversation of between Franco, 35, and student Lucy Clode, who was visiting New York from Scotland with her mum, has leaked online.

The Daily News reported the teen met the movie star outside the Longacre Theatre, where Franco is performing in the Broadway show, Of Mice and Men. Clode took an Instagram video in which Franco says, “You gotta tag me.”

It was this video and image that caught Franco's attention on Instagram. Photo: Instagram

Interacting via Instagram with the user name @lucy-clode, Franco asks her age, whether she has a boyfriend and where she is staying.

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To which she replied, “Nearly 18, my mum and not if you're around.”

The alleged conversation then moved to text messages where Franco asks to see the girl and whether he should “rent a room”.

The conversation moved from Instagram to text. Photo: Hollywood Life

Declining his offer, Clode said to the actor: “Well this is a story my Scottish friends will never believe.”

The Pineapple Express star then requested Clode not tell anyone. Before the student asked him to write her name on a piece of paper and send her a picture of him holding it, “I just want proper evidence that it's you and I won't.”

The messages then show an image of Franco holding a sign that says "LUCY", while pulling a finger sign.

The alleged hook-up never eventuated because she was not 18, but she did say she would come back when she is of legal age.

After the conversation leaked online Franco posted a meme of himself which read, “Why are you so thirsty for underage ones?” The picture has since been taken down.

Following the picture, Franco took to Twitter to address the allegations.

The Huffington Post has suggested this could be part of an “elaborate promotional campaign for Franco's new movie Palo Alto, based on his own short stories, in which he plays a high school teacher who has an affair with one of his teenage students.”

The New York Post agreed, saying: “It is unclear if this is a publicity stunt for Franco's upcoming movie, Palo Alto.

“In the film, he plays a creepy soccer coach who seduces his 14-year-old babysitter, portrayed by Emma Roberts.”

Franco has since posted another meme to Instagram saying “1.6m followers”.

The apparent publicity stunt looks to have paid off for the movie star.